Map it! Geocoding opens new visual access to information

Google's Marissa Mayer this week at the DLD conference in Munich announced new features to come for Google maps and Google earth. The triumph march of Google's geo concept all over the web is incredible.

Many people in the traditional media, especially from the Offline Taliban faction (still convinced that the internet nightmare could be over one day), still renounce the relevance of map like mash ups as some sort of unserious triviality. Even web experts like Mattias Kretschmer express their scepticism.

I'm pretty sure that displaying information in a geo context will become indispensable. The geographical context uncovers hidden dimensions of facts and data.

One of the most impressive examples is the Local Explorer of the Washington Post . The team of Rob Curely developed a mash up concept which combines data for crime, home sales, schools and places to a unique tool of local orientation.

Last week EveryBlock was launched by Adrian Holovaty, a pioneer in geo mapping for information scenarios. It provides relevant local data and information for San Francisco, New York and Chicago. It's promise: "The easiest way to keep track of what’s happening on your block, in your neighborhood and all over your city."

In Germany various community sites and point of interest portals have started to use Google maps as an additional layer for providing context and orientation. In 2007 the first newspaper applications went online like Saarbrücker Zeitung or Der Westen/ Westdeutsche Allgemeine , the largest regional paper in Germany. The basic intention is to display local news from the editors in a geographical context. People can easily check what is going on in their local neighbourhood by access the news via maps as the quickest and most logical of all entries. With maps as a visual access they no longer need to waste their time by browsing through long lists of text stories.

The next step will be that private users and citizen journalists can upload their content including the geo reference. Publishers plan to add local classified ads or sponsored information by local shop owners, public services or cinemas, clubs, bars and restaurants. I guess it is one of the most convincing approaches to revitalise the real strength of regional newspapers - their local competence and credibility.

At dpa-infocom we just launched a gecoded version of our regional multimedia wire services (dpa-RegioLine). Bild.de has based the beta version of it's Berlin navigator on this feed. So far we add an official geo co ordinate for towns and cities. In the cases of Berlin and Hamburg, the largest German cities we provide the data for the city districts. Gerd Kamp, head of our application development and Mr. Geonews, gives some technical background.

In late spring we plan to attach the complete address to the regional dpa news wherever useful. Besides we intend to geocode our main world newswire dpa-InfoLine. Users should be allowed to follow news via news maps from the local to the world level - simply by zooming in and out.

By defining standards and workflows we hope to motivate more and more publishers and editors to go for the geo option and add geographic metadata to their content. Map it! Another task visual journalists and story tellers will have to embrace.